DSWD provides P132M in aid to families hit by Carina, Habagat

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided more than P132 million worth of humanitarian aid to families affected by tropical cyclone Carina and the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) earlier this week.

In a press release on Saturday, the DSWD said a total of P132,943,000 worth of family food packs, family kits, hygiene kits, laminated sacks, and kitchen kits were distributed to affected families in the National Capital Region (NCR), Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, and Western Visayas.

The agency said that it would coordinate with all affected local government units (LGUs) in the provision of cash assistance.

“Once we get all of those [requests], we’ll evaluate them and figure out how to go, how to move forward, whether we use AICS, or yung emergency cash transfer (ECT) that we use,” said DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian during the situation briefing with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Provincial Capitol Building in Malolos, Bulacan.

Some of the interventions that the agency is looking into under the recovery and rehabilitation phase include the provision of ECT, Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), or cash-for-work.

“We’ll keep on working with the provinces, and we’ll keep on working with the LGUs as well,” Gatchalian said. —VBL, GMA Integrated News